Dr. Matt Boxer
@mboxer.bsky.social
Assistant Research Prof, Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies @ Brandeis University. Jewish studies and sociology. Writes broadly about contemporary Jewish life using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Might have a space laser.
Reposted by Dr. Matt Boxer
On this week’s “More To The Story,” former Yale professor Jason Stanley has been taking a lot of heat for moving to Canada. Why?
Because he studies fascism—and he believes it’s already arrived in the US.
Because he studies fascism—and he believes it’s already arrived in the US.
I study fascism. I’ve already fled America.
On this week’s “More To The Story,” former Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley explains his recent move to Canada and calls the Trump administration’s takeover of the US government a “coup.”
revealnews.org
November 11, 2025 at 5:55 PM
On this week’s “More To The Story,” former Yale professor Jason Stanley has been taking a lot of heat for moving to Canada. Why?
Because he studies fascism—and he believes it’s already arrived in the US.
Because he studies fascism—and he believes it’s already arrived in the US.
I am not a journalist, but it seems to me that in any field, if you have to ask what is the point of standards, you are not qualified.
“I’ve been hearing that standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She also asked openly, ‘What’s the point of standards?’” one CBS source said.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Bari Weiss wants to take down ‘too much power’ CBS News Standards unit: sources
EXCLUSIVE: Internal rumblings within the newsroom come after the S&P head resigned and the network disbanded its vaunted Race and Culture unit.
www.independent.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 3:46 PM
I am not a journalist, but it seems to me that in any field, if you have to ask what is the point of standards, you are not qualified.
Reposted by Dr. Matt Boxer
First Trump is trying to expropriate $230M from DOJ for himself, now this
This allows Trump (via DOJ) to use taxpayer money to bribe eight GOP Senators. It's that simple, there's no other way to describe it.
And where's the compensation for people injured by the Trump admin's unlawful conduct through DHS & DOGE?
Take a bow, @schumer.senate.gov, you did this.
And where's the compensation for people injured by the Trump admin's unlawful conduct through DHS & DOGE?
Take a bow, @schumer.senate.gov, you did this.
November 10, 2025 at 9:48 PM
First Trump is trying to expropriate $230M from DOJ for himself, now this
The latest in @benyamincohen.bsky.social's series @forward.com on small Jewish communities reflects a universal truth: baseball is always the answer.
"'You don’t build the baseball diamond for them to come,' he said. 'You build it because you love baseball.'"
forward.com/news/782347/...
"'You don’t build the baseball diamond for them to come,' he said. 'You build it because you love baseball.'"
forward.com/news/782347/...
This Jewish farmer is harvesting corn — and planting a synagogue — in the Illinois prairie
Near his family’s Illinois farm, Nik Jakobs is replanting Jewish life — turning a cornfield into a synagogue and a museum of small town Jewry.
forward.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:06 PM
The latest in @benyamincohen.bsky.social's series @forward.com on small Jewish communities reflects a universal truth: baseball is always the answer.
"'You don’t build the baseball diamond for them to come,' he said. 'You build it because you love baseball.'"
forward.com/news/782347/...
"'You don’t build the baseball diamond for them to come,' he said. 'You build it because you love baseball.'"
forward.com/news/782347/...
Where have I seen this before...?
November 10, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Where have I seen this before...?
Reposted by Dr. Matt Boxer
There's a version of this where he's saying "enrollees aren't even using preventive services that would be free to them" but that's also a failure of government to broadcast that these services are available.
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
November 10, 2025 at 6:50 PM
There's a version of this where he's saying "enrollees aren't even using preventive services that would be free to them" but that's also a failure of government to broadcast that these services are available.
If I promoted pseudoscience like these folks do, my university would fire me and do their best to scrub any ties to me from the public domain.
Of course, I don't have tenure, but how those decisions are made is an entirely different pseudo-meritocratic can of worms.
Of course, I don't have tenure, but how those decisions are made is an entirely different pseudo-meritocratic can of worms.
I spoke to CNN about how demoralizing it was to watch Stanford leadership stay silent while contrarians on campus launched unscientific attacks to stifle Stanford researchers. Now, those attacks have gone nationwide and much of MAHA leadership have ties to Stanford.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/08/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/08/p...
The Trump-MAHA-Stanford nexus of US health policy | CNN Politics
In early 2022, Stanford medical student Santiago Sanchez set out to organize a campus debate with Jay Bhattacharya — a professor at the university whose outspoken denunciations of pandemic lockdowns m...
www.cnn.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:56 PM
If I promoted pseudoscience like these folks do, my university would fire me and do their best to scrub any ties to me from the public domain.
Of course, I don't have tenure, but how those decisions are made is an entirely different pseudo-meritocratic can of worms.
Of course, I don't have tenure, but how those decisions are made is an entirely different pseudo-meritocratic can of worms.
Reposted by Dr. Matt Boxer
I received this email about Democrats caving to end the shutdown from one of the SNAP recipients I spoke to:
November 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I received this email about Democrats caving to end the shutdown from one of the SNAP recipients I spoke to:
Reposted by Dr. Matt Boxer
Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...
American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...
Reposted by Dr. Matt Boxer
Senate Democrats voting to dismantle the ACA to avoid any problems with their Thanksgiving travel is tragically on brand.
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Senate Democrats voting to dismantle the ACA to avoid any problems with their Thanksgiving travel is tragically on brand.
Reposted by Dr. Matt Boxer
To repeat: I have studied a lot of cases of autocratization over the past 15 years. Wrote about them, taught about them, consulting about them.
I do not recall an opposition so apathetic, ignorant, and inept as the @democrats.org. They cling to their power, rather than fight for democracy. Shame.
I do not recall an opposition so apathetic, ignorant, and inept as the @democrats.org. They cling to their power, rather than fight for democracy. Shame.
March 13, 2025 at 11:22 PM
To repeat: I have studied a lot of cases of autocratization over the past 15 years. Wrote about them, taught about them, consulting about them.
I do not recall an opposition so apathetic, ignorant, and inept as the @democrats.org. They cling to their power, rather than fight for democracy. Shame.
I do not recall an opposition so apathetic, ignorant, and inept as the @democrats.org. They cling to their power, rather than fight for democracy. Shame.
Two things:
1) Grok definitely referred to itself as "MechaHitler."
2) Research shows that LLMs tend to be deeply bigoted. It's not intentional; it's just that hatred is so mainstream, it's impossible to keep it out of the materials used to train the models.
So to answer the question, probably!
1) Grok definitely referred to itself as "MechaHitler."
2) Research shows that LLMs tend to be deeply bigoted. It's not intentional; it's just that hatred is so mainstream, it's impossible to keep it out of the materials used to train the models.
So to answer the question, probably!
Did ChatGPT tell the Democratic Party to kill itself??
November 10, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Two things:
1) Grok definitely referred to itself as "MechaHitler."
2) Research shows that LLMs tend to be deeply bigoted. It's not intentional; it's just that hatred is so mainstream, it's impossible to keep it out of the materials used to train the models.
So to answer the question, probably!
1) Grok definitely referred to itself as "MechaHitler."
2) Research shows that LLMs tend to be deeply bigoted. It's not intentional; it's just that hatred is so mainstream, it's impossible to keep it out of the materials used to train the models.
So to answer the question, probably!
IANAL, but I believe pointing a loaded gun at peaceful protesters constitutes assault, possibly even aggravated assault, under Illinois law.
November 9, 2025 at 12:30 AM
IANAL, but I believe pointing a loaded gun at peaceful protesters constitutes assault, possibly even aggravated assault, under Illinois law.
Funny how the wealthiest, best-resourced institutions are often the most cowardly.
BREAKING: Cornell caved.
Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
November 7, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Funny how the wealthiest, best-resourced institutions are often the most cowardly.
It's almost as if it was a bad idea to put the guy who stood out as vacuous on The Real World in charge of transportation.
Airlines raced on Thursday to rework plans and prepare customers and workers for disruptions this weekend, when a reduction of flights is set to take effect at the nation’s busiest airports.
Airlines Rush to Prepare for Federal Reductions in Flights
Airline planning and scheduling teams went into overdrive to identify which flights to cut while minimizing consequences for customers, pilots, flight attendants and the bottom line.
nyti.ms
November 7, 2025 at 5:22 AM
It's almost as if it was a bad idea to put the guy who stood out as vacuous on The Real World in charge of transportation.
This is your periodic reminder that when Vance called Trump "America's Hitler," he was expressing admiration, not criticism.
Mockler: JD Vance needs to come out and condemn this. When the young Republican group chat leaked, he muddied the waters, do you not see the normalization that's happening?
November 7, 2025 at 3:40 AM
This is your periodic reminder that when Vance called Trump "America's Hitler," he was expressing admiration, not criticism.
When you do the math, Tesla really seems like little more than a Ponzi scheme to benefit a white supremacist who lied on his visa application.
If Musk meets all the benchmarks of his new $1 trillion pay package from Tesla he will be paid $274 MILLION EVERY DAY FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS
This is his part-time job
This is his part-time job
November 7, 2025 at 2:14 AM
When you do the math, Tesla really seems like little more than a Ponzi scheme to benefit a white supremacist who lied on his visa application.
There are populations where there are almost never more than two degrees of separation.
We could probably play “6 Degrees of Actual Nazis” for every Republican political operative in America.
November 7, 2025 at 1:00 AM
There are populations where there are almost never more than two degrees of separation.
I have to admit, in my research on what North American Jews understand Zionism and anti-Zionism to be, this is a definition that was not mentioned by any of the 1,854 people who shared their views.
For those who aren't keeping up, Mamdani is a Zionist now (for condeming swastika graffiti on a yeshiva)
November 6, 2025 at 11:34 PM
I have to admit, in my research on what North American Jews understand Zionism and anti-Zionism to be, this is a definition that was not mentioned by any of the 1,854 people who shared their views.
It's the same sort of logic that once led a German court to rule that firebombing a synagogue "was a protest against Israel, even though the synagogue was obviously not in Israel and those who worship there are Jews, not Israelis." www.vox.com/world/2017/1...
November 6, 2025 at 10:45 PM
It's the same sort of logic that once led a German court to rule that firebombing a synagogue "was a protest against Israel, even though the synagogue was obviously not in Israel and those who worship there are Jews, not Israelis." www.vox.com/world/2017/1...
I guess a prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a sandwich, but you need a competent prosecutor who isn't serving a fascist regime to convict someone for throwing one?
The “sandwich thrower” was found not guilty of misdemeanor assault.
For those who don’t know, this guy threw a Subway sandwich at a CBP officer and was charged with assault on a federal officer.
Sucks to be you, Judge Pirro!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
For those who don’t know, this guy threw a Subway sandwich at a CBP officer and was charged with assault on a federal officer.
Sucks to be you, Judge Pirro!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
Jurors Find Sandwich Hurler Not Guilty of Assault
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:47 PM
I guess a prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a sandwich, but you need a competent prosecutor who isn't serving a fascist regime to convict someone for throwing one?
Reposted by Dr. Matt Boxer
I hope my Israeli friends are hearing this, that they're just a puppet state and their leader, who claims to be the world's chief warrior defending us against antisemitism, is little more than the lackey of a putz who thinks Nazis are "very fine people."
Don't like it? Do something about it.
Don't like it? Do something about it.
Trump: "Israel attacked first. That attack was very very powerful. I was very much in charge of that. When Israel attacked Iran first, that was a great day for Israel."
November 6, 2025 at 7:26 PM
I hope my Israeli friends are hearing this, that they're just a puppet state and their leader, who claims to be the world's chief warrior defending us against antisemitism, is little more than the lackey of a putz who thinks Nazis are "very fine people."
Don't like it? Do something about it.
Don't like it? Do something about it.
I don't think there's anyone working that closely with Trump who is a decent person.
That said, the way the press corps just keeps taking pictures of the dude who collapsed...
וּבְמָקוֹם שֶׁאֵין אֲנָשִׁים, הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לִהְיוֹת אִישׁ
That said, the way the press corps just keeps taking pictures of the dude who collapsed...
וּבְמָקוֹם שֶׁאֵין אֲנָשִׁים, הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לִהְיוֹת אִישׁ
holy shit -- one of Trump's toadies just passed out and the White House event is brought to an abrupt end
November 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
I don't think there's anyone working that closely with Trump who is a decent person.
That said, the way the press corps just keeps taking pictures of the dude who collapsed...
וּבְמָקוֹם שֶׁאֵין אֲנָשִׁים, הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לִהְיוֹת אִישׁ
That said, the way the press corps just keeps taking pictures of the dude who collapsed...
וּבְמָקוֹם שֶׁאֵין אֲנָשִׁים, הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לִהְיוֹת אִישׁ
Coincidentally, under the current exchange rate, 125 million pounds is approximately $164 million.
RFK Jr: "The American public because of this agreement will lose 125 million pounds by this time next year."
November 6, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Coincidentally, under the current exchange rate, 125 million pounds is approximately $164 million.